No War Today, Sorry...

(Source)

Yesterday's post left me a bit shook up. I hadn't really planned to wipe out four characters all at once. Okay yes, two of them are wounded, one hurt (there is a difference between being injured and being wounded, ask Easy Company of the 506th PIR).

While Jack Wilson didn't fall out of a tree, he was not wounded, therefore not eligible for a Purple Heart. But I digress.

Sometimes I just start telling the story, it plays in my head rather like a piece of film. Things happen which I didn't foresee, but they happened. When I reread a scene, I seldom change it. 2Lt Heintzelman won't be back, Jack Wilson could be back sooner than expected, SSG Andersen, I don't know yet. Of course, Pvt Alfred Esposito, "Spaz," is finished. I realized as the German MG started shooting that Esposito was in the middle of the road and the lieutenant whom he had just handed the radio handset to had gone down in very gory fashion. He was no doubt shocked, which left him vulnerable.

Sometimes I don't know where the story is going until it plays out in my head. Makes it interesting to write, but being creative does take a lot of mental energy. Which, if the lead-in photo has given you any clue, is rather lacking Saturday evening as I sit down to write.

This year From 1040-SR (for "senior," personally I would have gone with "OF") is new and spells out the standard deduction better than Form 1040. In case you didn't know it, being over 65 confers certain advantages. Yeah, yeah, most of the time it's aching joints and grumbling about "kids these days," but hey, I'm mostly Scottish so anything which helps me save a penny or three is welcome.

Taxes seem easier this year, did Federal and State in under three hours, so I've got that going for me. No refund from Uncle Sam this year, that's standard, I usually have to write him a check as I like to use my money throughout the year, he gets his cut at tax time and not a day before. Though The Missus Herself has declared that she doesn't like that. So...

I can but obey, as Oberleutnant Vogel said yesterday, "Befehle sind Befehle." He still got his head blown off. I intend to stay low.

In other news...

Was awakened by the morning duty feline, Anya. Apparently she has taken it upon herself to make sure I don't sleep past 0830, ever.

Working from home for some four months now has gotten her into the habit of seeing me bound out of the rack at the butt crack of dawn and fire up the computer to commence the day's activities. (Okay, it's more like fall out of bed, with much attendant moaning and groaning whilst dragging myself down to the computer room. There I will fire up the work laptop and the personal desktop with much gnashing of teeth and rending of garments.)

Anyhoo, weekends are no longer sacred. Bear in mind, this wake up call is after the feline staff have had morning chow as The Missus Herself gets up early to maintain the gardens in the cool of the early morning. She will open the mess at that time and feed the little darlings.

Cats are amazing creatures, apparently Sasha has "adopted" The Missus Herself as her personal human, I, on the other hand, belong to Anya. We are the human entertainment and sustenance committees to keep the feline staff happy and content. As they turn 17 next month, we must be doing something right.

And then there was...

So, after I had breakfast, I fired up the computer. Probably around two bells of the forenoon watch I believe. I had just turned the glass when I came here to check the early morning comments (I swear, some of you never sleep) and noted that there were already 500 views. Which isn't unusual for a weekday but is odd for a Saturday. By four bells the views had climbed to over 3,000. So yeah, the Rooski spambots are back. (The count is over 4,000 at 1900 local on Saturday evening.)

They're like bloody raccoons getting into the trash bins, though not nearly as cute. (Nor as intelligent for that matter.)

'Twas then that I noticed an odd comment from Any Mouse remarking how they were having trouble getting to the blog using Firefox. After a brief lecture as to what "https" means, they pointed out that the site had a "security problem." I responded in a diplomatic way, suggesting that Firefox doth verily suck in my book (we use it at work, it's bloody cloying and annoying) and the "security problem" was, no doubt, on his end.

I also told him (had to be a him, women are not that stupid) that email was a better venue to bitch about his connectivity problems. Then it struck me, it was a freaking spam comment! So I deleted his drivel and moved on to the real comments.

I am constantly amazed at the number of assholes on this planet, sorry there is no other word for that sort of behavior. It's why we can't have nice things on the Internet.

Anyhoo, that's all I've got for today. I still need to figure out what to write next in my WWII "saga." The Scotsmen have been laying low, the Canadians have seized Caen, and the surviving Germans haven't been mentioned in a few days. Also, where the Hell is Fitzhugh and his Sherman VC Firefly?

I shall return, enjoy the day, I have a virtual baby shower to attend Sunday afternoon. Should be interesting.